


Not Seeing is Believing

by CameraLux (TinCanTelephone)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (FIGHT ME), Canon Compliant, Firebending & Firebenders, Gen, Humor, POV Toph Beifong, Partially Blind Zuko (Avatar), Swordfighting, Swords, Toph Beifong-centric, Toph is a good teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26515909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinCanTelephone/pseuds/CameraLux
Summary: “What do you want?” Zuko mutters.She shrugs. “Just to try something.”“With me or on me?”“Sort of both.”Or, Toph's first foray into teaching.
Relationships: Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 14
Kudos: 403





	Not Seeing is Believing

**Author's Note:**

> *guiltily side-eyes other WIP's* 
> 
> So last night my brain decided it was Toko-friendship fic time. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Despite getting his ass whooped in his first “swordbending” match with Zuko (boomerang notwithstanding), Sokka keeps going back for more. Haru shakes his head and asks why on earth he bothers, considering that Zuko’s had over ten years’ training compared to Sokka’s ten days, but Sokka just continues stretching, waiting for Zuko to finish his session with Aang.

“That’s the whole point,” he says. “It’s almost as good as training with Piandao himself. Who knows when I’ll have an opportunity like this again?”

Gnawing on the remains of a pig-chicken leg, Toph can understand his point. In this topsy-turvy world, they have to develop any useful skill they’ve got, and even she’ll admit that swordsmanship (although _way_ less cool than earthbending) is useful. But she does wonder about one thing.

“Is Sparky aware that he’s ‘training’ you?” she says.

“Ehh, sure he is,” Sokka says without turning around.

“I mean, does he teach you forms? Or give you pointers during and after each match?” Her own (human) earthbending master might’ve been a useless dunderhead, but she knows how formal training is supposed to work.

Sokka crosses his arms, irritated. “No, forms would be useless since he has dual dao and I have a jian. And he doesn’t need to ‘give me pointers.’ I learn by doing.”

Toph smirks and Haru laughs, standing as Zuko finishes with Aang and begins making his way across the courtyard. “You coming down to the tunnels, Toph? I think I’m ready to try the rockalanche again, blindfolded this time.”

Toph cocks her head. While it would be fun to show Haru he most certainly is _not_ ready to try the rockalanche while blindfolded, she waves her hand and bends herself a lounge chair in front of the area Sokka’s claimed for his sparring match.

“Some other time, Mustache. I’m not quite done with my lunch.” The pig-chicken leg is picked more than clean, but she bites hard down the middle with her molars until the bone splits with a _crack_ and begins sucking on the marrow.

Haru huffs indignantly at the nickname, but when Zuko arrives with his swords he wanders off anyway, having less than no interest in sword fighting.

Zuko hesitates and can only stare awkwardly as he realizes Toph has no intention of leaving. “Uh. What’re you doing here?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m here to see some swordbending.” She taps her foot on the ground. “Figuratively, of course.”

“Oh-kay.” Zuko draws his swords and steps through a few forms to warm up, but even Sokka can tell he’s self-conscious.

“Come on, Sparky, no need to get stage fright,” Toph says. “Pretend like I’m not even here.”

Sokka, who’s better at knowing when a battle is lost, shakes his head and draws his own sword. “Just ignore her, Zuko.” Grinning, “Now are you ready to go down?”

Needless to say, Zuko does not “go down,” or even really come close. Toph’s paying attention this time, both hands and one mostly-healed foot pressed to the stone floor and developing sense for metal concentrated on their blades. Not that Sokka’s _bad_ – when she stops to consider it she realizes he must be quite gifted, to even hold his own at all against a prince who’s been training for most of his life (not that she’ll _ever_ tell him that). But all the talent in the world can’t make up for years of disparity in training and Zuko wins handily every time. Even Toph can tell Sokka doesn’t really present a challenge for him.

But if Zuko’s really supposed to be _training_ Sokka he’s doing a pretty terrible job of it. He never eases up at all to let Sokka get a little more practice going on the offensive, and doesn’t correct him when Sokka makes the same mistake three times in a row.

Toph eventually points out that he should stop putting so much weight on his front leg, if only to save everyone further embarrassment, and Sokka seems to realize what she’s doing.

“Did you notice that?” he asks Zuko.

Zuko shrugs. “It’s a bad habit.”

“A bad habit? I don’t know enough to have a ‘habit!’ Why didn’t you tell me?”

A frustrated huff. “I didn’t know that’s what you wanted.”

“Of course I wanted! I don’t come here to get beaten over and over again to take nothing out of it!”

“Alright, fine! You should keep your weight more evenly distributed. And pull your shoulders back. Hunching won’t do you any good, either.”

“Also you should focus more on Sparky’s left,” Toph says. “His defense is weaker on that side.”

Sokka frowns. “Really?”

Zuko nods. “She’s right. I was trained to dual-wield, but I’m right-handed so my left sword is slightly less coordinated. Also,” he continues in an off-handed manner, “my eyesight’s not as good on that side so it would be harder for me to block you, especially if you move quickly.”

“Oh.” Sokka shifts, suddenly uncomfortable. “But isn’t that… not sportsmanlike?”

“What?” Now Zuko sounds confused.

Sokka rubs the back of his neck. “You know, it doesn’t seem fair to use… _that_ against you.”

Toph doesn’t say anything, but she can guess what’s going on. She knows from the others that Zuko has a pretty wicked-looking scar on one side of his face, and you don’t get a burn like _that_ without taking some serious damage. Not that she knows much about _sight_ , but she does know that most people are pretty (ridiculously) reliant on it, and being impaired on one side has to confer a disadvantage. Given the scar, Zuko’s weakness should’ve been obvious to Sokka from the start.

“What do you mean _fair_?” Zuko says. “Is it not fair for me to take into account that you’re shorter than me and therefore make sure you don’t get too close?”

“Well, that’s different–”

“How?” Toph says. “Do you think a real opponent would give him any breaks?”

“Well, no, but–”

“‘But’ nothing,” Zuko says. “When you’re up against someone for real you have to take advantage of everything you can, because they would do the same to you.”

“I guess I can understand that…” Sokka doesn’t sound particularly convinced.

Toph gestures for them to resume their stances. “Go again, and this time Sokka push hard on his left, moving as fast as you can.”

He glares at her. “What do you know about any of this?”

“Just do it.”

“Fine.” Sokka takes his stance and they go again.

Zuko still wins of course, but everyone can tell he has to work a little harder.

“Well,” Sokka says, retrieving his sword from where it skittered across the flagstones, “that’s just because he knew it was coming.”

“No,” Zuko says, “I _always_ know it’s coming, because I know a real opponent will always go for that angle.” He raises his swords. “Now let’s go again.”

“And go easier on him, Zuko,” Toph says from the sidelines. “So he has a chance to work on his offense.”

Sokka makes an annoyed sound, but doesn’t contradict her, and raises his sword again.

Zuko takes Toph’s advice, allowing Sokka to push him back several feet, before disarming him and winning again. It lasts much longer than any of their previous rounds, and afterwards they pause to catch their breath.

Sokka pulls up his tunic to wipe sweat from his forehead. “Shit, dude how are you so good? Isn’t being blind in one eye supposed to mess with your depth perception?”

“Practice,” Zuko says. “And that eye isn’t completely useless, I can still see some stuff. Like light and dark and the shapes of things. It’s enough to get by.”

“I’d say more than get by,” Sokka mutters.

“Eh, you do all right, Sparky,” Toph says, using the remains of the pig-chicken bone to pick her teeth. “Let me know when you can ‘get by’ on _no_ eyes.”

Sokka barks a laugh. “Yeah, I’d like to see you beat my ass blindfolded.”

Zuko glares and shoves the dual dao back in their sheath. “Well not all of us can see with our bending.”

Sokka snickers and keeps prodding Zuko, as is his new habit, trying to get a rise out of him, but Toph tunes him out, thinking hard about the last thing Zuko said.

She comes up with a plan as she’s going to sleep that night, but doesn’t get a chance to implement it until Sokka and Zuko return from their “fishing trip” to a maximum-security Fire Nation prison. It works out because after that it’s easier to get Zuko by himself, with Sokka distracted with Suki and his father, so she ambushes him one day after lunch.

“Hey, Sparky.”

He jumps– she must not’ve been loud enough when she approached– and nearly drops the waterskin he’s holding. “ _Fucking shit_.”

Toph grins as he nervously looks around to see if they’re within Katara’s hearing (they’re not). Half the fun of scaring the shit out of people is hearing them curse and get scolded by Katara for language.

“What do you want?” Zuko mutters, holding a small flame to his pants where the water spilled.

She shrugs. “Just to try something.”

“With me or on me?”

“Sort of both.” She waits for him to finish and stand up from the edge of the fountain, then leads him to a wide open space away from everyone else. “You said not everyone can use their bending to see,” she says.

“Yeah, so what?”

“ _So_ , I think you can,” she says. “Or you could if you tried.”

He seems confused. “How?”

“You meditate to the sunrise every morning, and I bet you always know the position of the sun in the sky, even if you’re inside, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, people produce heat, too,” she says. “And I bet you could feel it with the same sense you use for bending, with a little training.”

“…And _you’re_ going to train me?”

 _Rude._ She crosses her arms. “Sheesh, it’s just an experiment. Maybe it’ll help you compensate for the _partial blindness_.”

“Alright, sorry,” he mutters. “How do we start?”

She grins and pulls out a strip of cloth lifted from Katara’s bag. “With this.”

Bending the floor to give herself a boost, she comes up behind him and ties the blindfold around his eyes.

“What the–? Toph!” He twists away from her, but she grabs his wrist to keep him from undoing the tight knot at the back of his head.

“You burned my feet, remember?” she says, pulling out her ace-in-the-hole against Zuko. “Just let me try something.”

“ _Fine_ ,” he says behind gritted teeth, hands falling to his sides.

“Great. Stay right where you are.” She backs up several feet and calls behind her, “Teo, New Guy, The Duke, get over here!”

Zuko crosses his arms. “What are they for?”

“They’re going to help me.” Toph turns towards The Duke, and whispers instructions in his ear to pass along to the others. They obey, moving as quietly as possible until they’re spread out in a loose circle, Zuko in the center.

“…Toph?” he says nervously.

“Just a minute, Sparky.” She presses her feet to the stone floor, feeling out everyone’s position in the courtyard. “You don’t know where anyone is right now, do you?”

He orients himself toward her voice. “I know where _you_ are.”

“Right, because you’re using your other senses,” she says. "But there’s someone right next to me who isn’t speaking, did you know that?”

“No.” He frowns, frustrated. “Toph, whatever point you’re trying to make, I don’t get it, okay?”

She ignores him. “Chit Sang, make a fire. Not a lot, just make a flame and hold it in your hand.”

He does, and she turns back to Zuko. “Can you feel him now?”

“Can I–? No. Toph, what does Chit Sang firebending have to do with anything?”

She huffs. “Has anyone ever told you you’re the most impatient person they’ve ever met? You’ve got to _wait_ , Fire Prince Hotpants, and _listen_.”

“I _am_ listening,” he says. “And all I hear is you _yelling_ at me.”

“Not listen with your _ears_ , Meathead,” she says. “With your _firebending_.”

“How am I supposed to–”

“Stop talking, for one,” she says. “Now take a deep breath, then reach out with your inner flame, or whatever you guys call it. Stop focusing on what you _can’t_ see, and start focusing on what you _can_.”

To his credit, Zuko seems to attempt to do what she says, but instead of feeling what she wants him to feel he makes a face like he’s very constipated, and she hears Teo clap a hand over his mouth to hide a chuckle.

“No, no, no.” She leaves Chit Sang’s side and walks forward, so she’s only a few feet in front of him. “You have to relax.”

He does, and behind her Chit Sang rolls his shoulders and transfers his flame from one hand to the other.

It gives her an idea. “Why don’t you make your own flame?”

He does– holding out his hand and to cup a small, flickering heat she can barely feel on her face.

“You can feel that, right?”

“Of course I can,” he says. “It’s hot.”

“But _more_ than that,” she insists, although she’s beginning to doubt her theory is correct after all, or if Zuko’s just much more dense than she thought. “Stop thinking about all your other senses. You know where the heat is because of your firebending.”

He’s quiet for a minute, thinking, and she feels him unconsciously relax, even his heartbeat slow, as he focuses his energy on his chi. “…Yeah,” he says. “I guess I can.”

“Hold onto that feeling,” she says, excitement building in her chest as they finally make progress. “And reach out. Can you feel that heat coming from anywhere else?”

“Yes,” he says after another long silence. “Coming from there.” With his other hand he points at Chit Sang, still holding a flame in his palm.

“Sweet!” Toph allows herself one fist pump before moving onto the next phase of her experiment. “Now put out your fires, both of you.”

They do.

“Now instead of your flame, just focus on your body heat.”

Zuko nods, and she takes a step closer to him.

“Now see if you can feel mine,” she says.

He takes another deep breath, and she’s close enough to feel the faint warm breeze on her bangs, but waits until he nods again. “Yeah, I can feel you.” He stutters, “I-I mean, not like– ugh, you know what I mean.”

She smirks, but resists the temptation to savor his awkwardness and takes a big step back. “Can you still feel me?”

Slowly, he nods again. “Yeah.”

“Now reach out further,” she commands. “Chit Sang, Teo, and The Duke are all around you. Can you feel where each of them is?”

“…Yes.” He identifies Chit Sang first, the closest to him besides herself and the only other firebender. “He’s warmer than the rest of them.” Then Teo, who is off to his left. “The signature is low, but long, like they’re sitting.”

“One more…”

Zuko turns 180 degrees and points at– “The Duke.”

“Awesome!” Toph thinks it can’t get any better.

And then Zuko points again. “And there’s more over there.” He indicates Suki, Haru, and Aang, a ways away at the main campsite on dish duty. “And there.” Katara, Hakoda, and Sokka nearby, relaxing against a pillar.

Toph is mildly impressed– she can feel all of that in minute detail, of course, but she hardly expected Zuko’s sense to rival her own. But of course she’s loathe to show it. “Not bad, Sparky, not bad.”

Zuko tears off the blindfold and rubs his face. “But that takes a lot of focus. I’m not sure how useful this’ll be in combat or anything.”

“Not useful in combat _yet_ ,” Toph says. “It’s like a muscle, and you’ve never used this one before so it’s weak. But trust me, soon you’ll hardly need to open your good eye to ‘see’ what’s coming at you.”

* * *

“Hmmm.” Katara puts a ruler flat on Sokka and Zuko’s heads as they stand back to back, Sokka’s feet earthbent to the floor to keep him from cheating. “Still too close to call.”

“Aw, come _on_ ,” Sokka whines as Aang releases him. “I can _not_ be the short one here.”

Toph punches him for that. Hard. “Really, Snoozles?”

“You don’t count,” he mutters.

“Come on, guys,” Aang says from the drinks table set up in the corner of the room. “No fighting on Toph’s birthday. It doesn’t matter how tall everyone is.”

“Easy for you to say, you radish-beanpole,” Sokka says, slumping onto the nearest chaise.

“Chin up, Sokka,” Suki says. “I bet you would win if you arm wrestled.”

Toph considers it and thinks she’s probably right. Whatever his deficiencies in height, Sokka definitely has the largest biceps of all the boys. 

“Boring.” Sokka flaps a hand at Zuko. “Firelord Noodle Arms over there? Of course I’d win.”

“Hey.”

“What? It’s perfectly understandable– all that paperwork means less time for working out.” He smirks, and accepts a victory kiss from Suki.

Toph takes a sip of her drink. “What about sword fighting?”

Suki nods. “Oh, yeah– Sokka, you’ve been working so hard with Piandao this year.”

“So has Zuko!” Sokka says. “ _And_ he’s still got all those years as a kid.”

Toph finds herself grinning. She unties the sash from her waist. “So we’ll even the score.”

Ten minutes later they’re all in the palace courtyard, standing in a loose circle around Sokka and Zuko, facing each other with their swords drawn, her sash tied around Zuko’s eyes.

Aang’s biting his thumbnail. “Toph, are you sure this is a good idea?”

Toph waves a hand. “Relax, Twinkletoes, it’s my birthday. This can be their present to me.”

Sokka glares. “Hey, I actually got you something–”

“My sixteenth birthday doesn’t warrant two presents?”

“I _did_ get you two–”

“Well then this makes it three.” She bends herself a chair and claps her hands together. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Katara crosses her arms. “If either of them gets hurt, it’s your fault.”

She shrugs. “No one’s going to get hurt.”

Suki speaks up. “Well, correct me if I’m wrong but Zuko isn’t exactly an earthbender, Toph. He can’t see like you can.”

Toph smirks. “That’s what you think.” She waves her hands so the earth moves Sokka and Zuko closer together. “I _said_ you can start.”

Sokka seems unsure, but still sets his jaw and takes the first swing. It’s intentionally wide, but Toph still feels Suki, Katara, and Aang tense as they wait for it to take a chunk out of the firelord.

But Zuko side-steps it easily and returns with a swing of his own.

Sokka’s mouth falls open and he almost fails to block it, taking several steps back. “Woah, how did you–”

Zuko doesn’t answer, swinging again and pushing Sokka back.

“Okay, okay, I see how it is.” Sokka blocks again and goes on the offensive.

Toph watches the match with rapt attention. Sokka is worlds better with the sword compared to four years ago, and increased height and muscle certainly don’t hurt. But Zuko’s better too, and she’s extremely pleased to find he’s been working on his heat-sense. He moves like he isn’t blindfolded at all, and although it’s a close match and much longer than the ones they held as teenagers, eventually Sokka’s sword ends up the turtleduck pond.

“Alright!” He throws up his hands and steps backwards. “What’s the game here? You can see through that blindfold, can’t you?”

“Nope,” Zuko says smugly, untying the sash and holding it out. “See for yourself.”

Sokka briefly holds it to his eyes before tossing it angrily aside. “Well there must be some sort of trick. Tell me what it is.”

“No trick,” Toph says lightly, retrieving her sash. “Just firebending.”

“Firebending?” Suki says from where she’s fishing out Sokka’s sword. “But how?”

Zuko sheathes his dual dao and fixes his hair. “A while ago, Toph taught me how to ‘see’ other people by feeling for their body heat. Sort of like her seismic sense."

“Woah, that’s so cool,” Aang says. “Do you think you could teach me to do that, too?”

Toph shrugs. “I could, but earthbending’s still better because you can see things as well as people.”

“Plus, it took me a long time to master.” Zuko checks the time. “And at this rate we’re going to be late for dinner. Uncle’s probably already waiting for us.”

“Pffft, whose birthday is it, anyway?” Toph says, although she follows the others out of the courtyard towards the dining hall. “And you don’t know– maybe Aang could master it quicker than you.”

Zuko rolls his eyes. “You can’t let me have one thing to myself, can you?”

She laughs. “Alright, fine.” She punches his arm to make up for it. “Maybe you did good out there, Sparky. It’s nice to see you’ve been working on it.”

“Well, I can admit it has been helpful.” He gives a half-smile. “And I had a great teacher.”

She punches him again. “You’re damn right you did.”

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway yeah so I feel like Toph is a great teacher okay?
> 
> No I won't be taking questions but I'm still on tumblr at [cats-and-metersticks](https://cats-and-metersticks.tumblr.com/)


End file.
